The invention relates to the field of communication systems and more particularly, a code division multiple access communication system.
A code division multiple access (CDMA) communication system operating according to any of the Interim Standard (IS) 95 specification includes a communication structure for providing voice, data, and simultaneous voice and data communications. A generalized multi-media service may also be supported in such communication system. For multi-media application including an internet access, the data throughput is directly related to the quality of the service. The data throughput, however, may be limited due to the carrier signal bandwidth and effectiveness of the available bandwidth utilization. For example, a CDMA carrier signal with 1.25 MHz bandwidth may not support peak data rate of more than 0.5 Mbps under certain conditions. For a multi-media or an internet access application, communication data rates of more than 0.5 Mbps are highly desirable due to the nature of such types of communications while complying with the communication standards such as IS-95A, B and C.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for providing high data rate communications in a CDMA communication system.